


Counting Down Chocobos

by KaelinaLovesLomaris



Series: Whumptober 2020 - FFXV [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Background Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Fake Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Not Really Character Death, Somewhat, Sort Of, Temporary Character Death, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26767012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaelinaLovesLomaris/pseuds/KaelinaLovesLomaris
Summary: Noctis is captured by Niflheim, and Ardyn decides to mess with him. He knows the best way to get to him is through his friends.
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Series: Whumptober 2020 - FFXV [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951015
Comments: 32
Kudos: 47





	1. Waking Up Restrained

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 Prompt: **Waking Up Restrained** , **Shackled** , Hanging

Noctis woke slowly, awareness gradually filtering into his sluggish mind. The first thing he noticed was the pounding in his head, followed by the straining discomfort in his arms. He groaned, wincing against the harsh light when he tried to open his eyes. He tried to stretch his arms and froze at the clatter of chains. Any residual grogginess fled, and Noctis snapped his head up, wide eyes taking in his surroundings.

He was on his knees on a hard metal floor, his hands cuffed and suspended above his head. His wrists ached from holding the weight of his body, the chains the only thing that had kept him upright for however long he’d been in this position.

The room was bare, all utilitarian gray metal and concrete, just a solid metal door on the wall to his left and no windows to speak of. There were no indicators of where he might be, but there was really only one likely answer.

Noctis remembered… The last thing he remembered was setting out from a haven on a hunt and being ambushed by an Imperial dropship. An annoying but not unusual occurrence, but Noctis couldn’t remember the end of the battle. He must have been knocked out somehow and taken captive, because a Niflheim base was the only location that would make sense given his current situation.

Satisfied that there was nothing and no one else in the room with him - and where were his friends if they were not here with him? He hoped desperately that they had gotten away - he turned his attention to the handcuffs and offending chain. He could puzzle over the gap in his memories once he was _out_ of wherever this was. Probably Formouth Garrison, considering they’d been in Leide when they’d been ambushed. He also couldn’t count on a rescue. Even if his friends hadn’t been captured with him, there was no way they would have let the Niffs take him unless they’d been somehow incapacitated.

 _If these covenants mean anything, Titan, Ramuh, please don’t let them be dead,_ Noctis pleaded. He’d heard the orders, that he specifically was to be taken alive, with no mention of his retainers. But worrying about it wasn’t going to get him out any faster.

Noctis pushed himself up as tall as he could on his knees, hissing at the flare of pain in his abused back, wrapped his hands around the chain to take the pressure off his wrists, and _yanked_.

The shock reverberated through his arms and shuddered down his spine, but the chain didn’t budge. Maybe if he could summon a low-level blizzard spell, he could weaken the chain enough that it would break on his next try - 

“The sleeping beauty is awake at last!”

Noctis yelped, pivoting on his knees to face the speaker.

“You!” he hissed. Ardyn smiled. Noctis hadn’t noticed him enter.

“Me indeed. Trying to leave so soon, without even greeting your host? Not very nice manners for a king.”

Noctis scrambled to his feet, using the chain to help pull himself up, and put as much distance as the slack allowed between them.

“Kidnapping a king and chaining him up isn’t very nice manners for a chancellor,” he spat back. Ardyn raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“I assure you, I was not behind your capture. After all the effort I have expended on your behalf, why would I seek to imprison you? However, now that you are in our custody, it is my job to deal with you.”

Ardyn sauntered forward, and Noctis shifted, circling around the perimeter of the distance allowed him by the chain. Childish? Maybe, but he didn’t want Ardyn any closer than he could help.

Unfortunately, there was only so far he could go, and Ardyn caught up to him easily. He seized Noctis’s chin, tilting his head back roughly and forcing Noctis to meet his eyes.

“I really had hoped we wouldn’t meet like this quite so soon, but as lenient as I have been with you thus far, I doubt our esteemed emperor would be pleased to hear I had simply let you go after the merry chase you’ve led us on. He wants you to be taught a lesson about what it means to defy Niflheim before you’re brought to your execution.”

Cold dread settled in Noctis’s stomach at that. He jerked his head away from Ardyn’s fingers, trying to burn away the fear in a flash of anger.

“Do your worst,” he spat. He wouldn’t bow to Niflheim’s intimidations.

“Oh, I won’t be harming a hair on your head. Despite Emperor Aldercapt’s wishes, you are far more useful alive for now, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince him of that.”

There was really only one reason Noctis could think of for why he would be more useful alive than dead, and it wasn’t to avoid him being held up as a martyr. Most of Lucis still thought he was dead already anyways.

“The Crystal won’t answer to anyone but a Lucis Caelum and I won’t help you use it, so I hope your emperor enjoys his useless chunk of rock.” A sacrilegious way to refer to the Crystal that fueled his family’s magic, but Noctis hadn’t felt very charitable towards it since he’d realized it was draining his dad’s life away. Not that it had mattered in the end. He hadn’t even gotten to live long enough to let it kill him.

“Wrong again, Noct, but all will be revealed in due time. There are more important matters at hand for now.”

“And what are you going to do to me if you can’t touch me?”

“Really, Noct, I thought you were smarter than this. But perhaps you don’t care about them as much as I’d been led to believe. In that case, you really are _quite_ the accomplished actor.”

No. He felt like his breath had been knocked out of him. Somehow he’d managed to convince himself that they had escaped or had been left behind as unnecessary. He’d had to, in order to focus on his own situation. Now he wished he hadn’t, wished he’d been more realistic so he would have seen this coming.

“Where are my friends?” Noctis demanded, his voice weaker than he would have liked.

“Secure within this fortress. Don’t worry, Your Majesty, you will see them soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to keep these shorter this year for my own sanity. We’ll see how that goes.
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr at [prince-noctisluciscaelum](https://prince-noctisluciscaelum.tumblr.com)!


	2. Pick Who Dies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ardyn puts his plan into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 Prompt: **“Pick Who Dies,”** Collars, Kidnapped

“Your friends, as promised,” Ardyn announced when he reentered the room. Noctis hadn’t been left alone for long, but he’d spent the time trying to no avail to break the chain or escape the handcuffs. He’d rubbed his wrists raw, and blood was beginning to drip down his arms but he didn’t care.

“Let them go, Ardyn!”

Ardyn tsked. “We discussed this, Your Majesty.” His title was nothing but a mockery coming out of Ardyn’s mouth, despite the complete lack of sarcasm in his tone whenever he said it.

His friends were dragged into the room by MTs, each of them gagged and cuffed, and were forced to their knees in a row in front of Noctis, too far away for him to reach them. Ignis held himself straight, his body tense with repressed anger, and his eyes, when they turned on Ardyn, spoke of murder. They softened a little when he met Noctis’s gaze, but his fingers flexed, gripping around the hilts of imaginary daggers, and Noctis knew he was ready to burn the entire place to the ground.

Prompto seemed to have shut down, meekly allowing himself to be manhandled and keeping his eyes trained on the floor, like he was barely holding himself back from tipping over into a panic attack.

Gladio looked like he was ready to fight his way out, and in fact it appeared he had already tried, if the darkening bruise on his cheek was any indication. He jerked against the metal hands on his shoulders when they tried to push him to his knees, snarling what Noctis could only imagine were obscenities from behind the gag. He lost the fight when the MT kicked at the back of his knees and they buckled, sending him crashing to the ground next to Prompto. Ardyn watched his defiance with a small smile, and Noctis wanted to slap it off his face.

“What do you want with us, Ardyn?” Noctis asked through gritted teeth. Unease coiled in his stomach when Ardyn’s smile widened.

“I want you to choose.”

“What?”

Ardyn pulled a dagger from somewhere and casually gestured towards his friends with it. “One of your retainers is going to die today, Noct, and you are going to choose which one.”

Noctis froze in horror, sure that he must have heard wrong. _Hoping_ that he must have heard wrong. One look at his retainers assured him that he hadn’t.

Gladio bucked against the hands holding him down, almost making it back to his feet before a harsh jab to his kidney dropped him back down. The MT behind him released one of his shoulders to raise its rifle. It pressed the muzzle against the nape of Gladio’s neck, and Gladio relaxed in surrender.

Prompto was shaking, and he still hadn’t raised his head to meet Noctis’s eyes.

“Which one shall it be?” Ardyn taunted, his voice light and lilting. He paced behind his friends, twirling his knife between his fingers.

He stopped behind Ignis, trailing the point of the blade along his shoulder. Ignis tensed. “Your advisor, your loyal Hand? Your oldest friend, more than willing to die for you. He’d probably be happy to, so long as he knew you’d be safe. But how _would_ you survive without him?”

There was no way this was happening.

Ardyn took another step, this time hovering behind Prompto. He carded his fingers through Prompto’s hair before seizing a handful and yanking Prompto’s head back. Prompto whimpered through the gag.

“Get your hands off him!” Noctis snarled.

“Ah, perhaps not this one. Your best friend, the only one of your retinue who _chose_ to stand by your side of his own will. Do you regret bringing him along? If only you’d left him safe in Insomnia. But ah, would he have survived the city’s fall? He escaped the destruction only to walk through the Pyre with you. A cruel fate, but perhaps still less cruel than the one he was originally made for.”

Noctis frowned at that, but wasn’t given time to ponder it before Ardyn abruptly released his grip on Prompto’s hair and stepped behind Gladio.

“Your Shield. Born to give of his blood and flesh in your service.” Ardyn leaned over his shoulder to drag the tip of his dagger along Gladio’s cheek, with just enough pressure to draw a thin line of blood. Gladio jerked his head away, and Ardyn laughed. “Born to die for you, born to die _before_ you, but destined to outlive you. Shall we right that wrong, prevent the shame that comes from a Shield outliving his king?”

“No, stop it!” This had to be some kind of sick joke. He wasn’t seriously going to just… _kill_ one of his friends.

He had to be dreaming. This had to be some kind of nightmare. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten here. He was dreaming, and he would wake up soon, safe in their tent, sandwiched between Ignis and Prompto.

“Choose one, Noctis.”

“No, I can’t, Ardyn, _please_ ,” Noctis begged. He couldn’t do this, he couldn’t just _choose_ one of his friends, one of his _brothers_ , to die.

“Pick one, Noctis, or they all die.” Ardyn’s voice had lost its playful edge, and Noctis knew he was running out of time.

He raked his frantic gaze over his friends. Loyal, steadfast Ignis, who had leashed his rage for Noctis’s benefit and now held himself with a stoicism Noctis would have been jealous of under any other circumstance. Now his heart just ached.

Prompto wasn’t even an option. Aside from being Noctis’s best friend, he was still practically a civilian. _This_ wasn’t what he had signed up for.

Noctis locked eyes with Gladio. His Shield’s gaze was steady, and he gave Noctis an almost imperceptible nod. A sob broke loose from Noctis’s throat. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go, this wasn’t how any of them were supposed to die.

“Please, Ardyn, no, just let them go. I’m the one you’re interested in, don’t make me do this.”

“Five seconds, Noct.”

“No!” He thrashed against the chain holding him back, wishing it would break. Wishing his hands were free so he could warp-strike his blade right through the chancellor’s heart.

“Four.”

He couldn’t do this. This wasn’t fair.

“Three.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he sobbed.

“Two.”

“Gladio! Gladio, I’m sorry.” He could barely see his Shield’s face through the tears blurring his vision, but he wasn’t going to look away. He had condemned him to death, he had no right to turn his gaze. Gladio nodded at Noctis once, like he did whenever he was happy with something Noctis did during training, no sign of resentment on his face, before closing his eyes.

Noctis hated himself for caving, for choosing, but he couldn’t lose them all. He couldn’t bear it. Any of them dying would be more than he could bear, but he tried to tell himself that this was Gladio’s job. If it had to be any of them, Gladio would want it to be him. He was, as Ardyn had said, born to die for Noctis, as much as Noctis hated it and had never wanted it to come to pass.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, his voice too thick to even understand himself.

Ardyn smiled sharply, before looping his arm around Prompto’s neck and slicing his throat. Noctis screamed. His vision tinted red and he threw himself at Ardyn, the chain catching and yanking him back with a violence that almost dislocated something.

Gladio roared through the gag, fighting the MT’s hands on him as it pulled him to his feet. Ignis stumbled, unsteady as he stared down at Prompto. Noctis was only peripherally aware of them being dragged from the room, the MT that had been behind Prompto helping to restrain Gladio.

Noctis didn’t want to see, but he couldn’t look away, his vision mercifully blurred by tears. He willed Prompto to get up, to move, anything other than remain slumped on the floor like a puppet with cut strings.

Noctis dropped to his knees and slumped down as much as the chains would allow him, heaving past the harsh sobs strangling his lungs. His wrists protested the new position, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Prompto was _dead_. He’d braced himself to lose Gladio, as much as he could in those final seconds, but not _Prompto_. Not his best friend. He finally managed to lower his head, turning his eyes away.

He heard Ardyn approaching him but he didn’t look up, unwilling to catch sight of his best friend’s body again. The MTs had left him there, sprawled in his blood, when they’d taken Ignis and Gladio away. Noctis couldn’t bear to look at him again. This was all _his_ fault. He never should have asked Prompto to join his Crownsguard, to come with him on this road trip. If he hadn’t come, then he might still be alive. His apartment was far enough from the Citadel it might have survived the attack. He wouldn’t have been a target.

“Prompto, I’m sorry,” he choked out. “I’m so sorry.”

Ardyn crouched down in front of him and ran a hand through Noctis’s hair, brushing the unstyled strands away from his forehead. Noctis didn’t try to pull away like he might have before. What was even the point? He was going to have to watch the man kill his friends one by one and then he’d finally drag him off to Gralea to kill him too. He wished he’d just get it over with.

Ardyn continued petting Noctis’s hair in a facsimile of a soothing gesture until Noctis’s energy was spent and his tears turned into dry sobs.

“You were always going to kill him, weren’t you? This is all just some sort of sick game to you!” Noctis spat. Anger was safer than grief.

“He was expendable anyways. Just one of thousands.”

“You bastard! Not to me he wasn’t.” No one could ever replace Prompto. He’d been the first and only person to treat Noctis like just another person, rather than a prince. In all his life, Noctis had never made a friend on his own aside from Prompto. He was one in a million, and he was completely, utterly irreplaceable.

Ardyn made a show of thinking that over, dramatically tapping one finger against his chin, before he called out, “Bring him in!”

“Maybe this will help convince you.” He dropped his voice into a stage whisper.

The door opened again to admit two MTs, dragging in a struggling person with an achingly familiar mop of blond hair. They shoved him into the room, and he hit the floor on his hands and knees near the body with a yelp.

“What the -” He scrambled back, his eyes fixed on the body. He didn’t seem to have noticed Noctis yet.

“Prom?” Noctis breathed. He didn’t dare let himself hope, but even without a clear view of his face, he’d recognize his voice and his mannerisms anywhere.

Prompto tore his gaze away from the body on the floor and finally caught sight of Noctis and Ardyn. His eyes were wide, his expression bordering on panicked, but some of the tension in his shoulders dropped when Noctis made eye contact.

“Noct!” He jumped up and took a few hesitant steps towards them, his eyes flickering to Ardyn. Ardyn stood and backed up, sweeping his arm in a gesture at Noctis.

“Be my guest,” he said.

Prompto rushed to Noctis and dropped to his knees in front of him. Noctis surged forward, wanting to wrap his arms around his inexplicably alive best friend and hold him, but the chains prevented it. Prompto did it for him, throwing his arms around him and pulling him close. Noctis buried his face in the crook of Prompto’s neck, breathing in the familiar scent of him. He’d thought he was out of tears, but he started to cry again as Prompto ran a comforting hand up and down Noctis’s back, careful of his scars as he always was.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, not even sure what he was apologizing for. “I’m sorry.”

“Shh, Noct, it’s okay, buddy. I’m here. I’m alive. I’ve got you.”

Prompto was shaking, or maybe Noctis was, he couldn’t tell, and his voice wavered as he murmured to him, but it didn’t matter. Prompto was alive, and Noctis shoved down the insidious whisper of “for now.” They’d get out before Ardyn had the chance to kill one of them for real.

“A touching reunion.” Noctis had almost forgotten that Ardyn was still in the room with them. Prompto tensed, his arms tightening around Noctis when the chancellor spoke. Noctis looked up from Prompto’s shoulder to glare at him.

“How did you do it?”

“I told you he was only one of thousands.” Ardyn spread his arms in a dramatic gesture. “There are plenty more where that one came from, but I can assure you that the one holding you right now is the ‘real’ Prompto Argentum. But who knows if it will be the next time you see him.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I told you, I am unwilling to harm your person, but Emperor Aldercapt wants you to suffer for your audacity in defying him.”

Ardyn stepped closer and reached out to brush a hand through Prompto’s hair. Prompto flinched, but refused to move away from Noctis.

“Your friends are clearly the best way to get to you.”

Noctis pulled himself to his feet, dragging Prompto up with him as he clung to him. Like this, he was able to slip the loop of his arms clumsily around Prompto, and he turned them slightly to shield him with his body as best he could, futile though he knew it was.

“I swear I’ll kill you if you hurt them.”

“Oh, I’m counting on that, Your Majesty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much for keeping things short.
> 
> I might add another chapter to this later, but for now it’s marked as complete.
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr at [prince-noctisluciscaelum](https://prince-noctisluciscaelum.tumblr.com)!


	3. Manhandled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Gladio’s POV, just to make things worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 Prompt: **Manhandled, Forced to Their Knees, Held at Gunpoint**
> 
> All three were too perfect for Gladio’s POV, so I had to.
> 
> Thank you so much to Mokulule for her absolutely invaluable help in making this chapter readable!

Gladio paced the small cell he’d been thrown into. He’d woken up in the same cell as Ignis and Prompto, but it hadn’t been long before MTs had arrived to separate them. There had been no sign of Noctis.

Noctis had been taken down by a blow to the back of the head. Gladio clenched his hands into fists where they were cuffed in front of him as he remembered the terror of watching him fall, of hearing Prompto scream Noctis’s name.

Shortly after, the Imperials had released a sleeping gas to knock the rest of them out. He was still a little lightheaded and nauseous, and he wasn’t sure how much of that was lingering effects from the gas and how much was worry for Noctis and his fellow retainers.

He completed yet another circuit of the room, and just like every previous time, he hadn’t found any weaknesses in the smooth walls and sealed door.

Knowing that Noctis was somewhere in Imperial custody outside of Gladio’s sight was only marginally better than not knowing where he was at all. Letting them wake up together sans Noctis had been a deliberate move by whichever Imperial was in charge of this base, otherwise they would have been separated from the beginning. They _wanted_ them to be nervous about what was happening to Noctis, and as much as Gladio hated falling for their tricks, it was working.

He knew he ought to rest, conserve his strength, wait for the headache and weakness to fade, but he couldn’t stay still, not when he didn’t know where Noctis was.

He did another lap, growling through clenched teeth. The small perimeter of the room was not nearly enough space for him to work out his frustrations with physical activity. Push-ups weren’t an option with his hands bound, though he could maybe still manage some sit-ups -

The door handle rattled. Gladio dropped into a fighting stance, ready to rush whoever entered should they prove to be unfriendly.

Gladio faltered when he caught sight of Ignis. The relief that rushed through him turned painful when he realized he was still bound in the same manner as Gladio, with the addition of a gag in his mouth. He was held in front of an MT like a shield, and he looked _spitting mad_ about it.

Ignis was shuffled off to the side and shoved to his knees once the door was closed again, and Gladio gritted his teeth at the lost opportunity. He never would have thought that the MTs were _smart_ enough for a stunt like that, so someone else must have been calling the shots there.

He didn’t have time to ponder who, exactly, that someone else might be - though he’d come up with a few options during his time spent pacing - because the other MT was approaching him with intent. Gladio hadn’t been planning on making it easy for it, but now with Ignis as a hostage, it wasn’t his call alone. He stole a glance at Ignis, who nodded. Gladio hadn’t expected anything less.

He ducked under the reaching metal arm and kicked out, catching the MT in the torso. The armour clanged on contact, but the MT barely swayed.

 _Sturdier than the usual models,_ Gladio thought just before it seized his ankle and yanked him off his other foot. He hit the ground hard, headache flaring back up, but rolled into the impact and staggered back to his feet before the MT could subdue him. It was harder to move with his usual grace - grace that defied his size and typically caught human assailants by surprise - between the dizziness and his bound hands, but he was still far less clumsy than the robotic MT.

They circled the small cell, trading the occasional blow when one got too close to the other, and Gladio realized they must have been instructed to keep them alive and mostly intact as neither MT had gone for their weapon yet, not even to threaten Ignis, who was still thoroughly restrained, in order to gain Gladio’s compliance.

It was difficult to focus, between the nausea and the headache, and Gladio failed to react quickly enough to block a hit to his face. The blow was enough to knock him back, already off-balance as he was, and he blinked in surprise when he found himself on the ground.

The MT was on him before he could recover, pinning him down with a heavy knee on his chest. A cloth gag was stuffed in his mouth - he didn’t dare to try biting the metal fingers like he would have a human’s - and another strip of cloth tied around his head to hold the gag in. He spit unintelligible curses at the MT as he was yanked back to his feet, his vision blacking out again at the sudden movement.

He and Ignis were herded out of the room and back into the hallway Gladio had been dragged down earlier. Everything looked the same in this place, all drab walls with uniform doors and nothing to give a sense of direction. But the MTs moved with unerring purpose, following some internal map or something.

Gladio tried jerking against the MT’s hold once or twice, but its grip on his arm was sharp and bruising, much stronger than humanly possible, and it only tightened with each attempt to throw it off.

They finally stopped, after a dizzying amount of turns that even Gladio with all his survival training couldn’t keep track of, in front of another identical door where Prompto with another personal MT guard was waiting.

Prompto was much more subdued than he had been the last time Gladio had seen him, his eyes downcast despite all of Gladio’s efforts to catch his gaze, and he worried that perhaps the Niffs had spent the time since they’d been separated working him over. Gladio didn’t see any bruising or lacerations or other physical signs, but that didn’t mean anything. There were plenty of ways to hurt a person without leaving marks.

He cursed the gag, wishing he could talk to him, try to calm him. Anything to make him snap out of whatever panicked state he was sinking into. His breathing was too fast; Gladio worried he was going to make himself pass out, and he doubted the MTs would care enough to catch him before he cracked his head on the floor if he did.

He shared a glance with Ignis, who was also frowning in Prompto’s direction. He hated feeling powerless. Trussed up as they all were, there was nothing to do but wait for their captors to show their hands and hope for an opening. There was also no way any of them were going to leave without Noctis.

The door they were waiting by suddenly opened from the inside, and they were pushed inside before any of them could react.

The scene inside the room made Gladio’s blood boil. Noctis strung up by a chain anchored to the ceiling and that Astrals-darned bastard, Chancellor Izunia, strutting around proud as a kingatrice. Of _course_ it would be Ardyn responsible for this.

Gladio fought when the MT tried to force him to his knees in line with Ignis and Prompto, furious at Ardyn and how Noctis was being treated. His instincts roared up, demanding that he protect Noctis at all costs. He snarled curses through the gag at Ardyn, barely paying attention to what he was saying, his attention focused on Noctis and how much of a mess he looked. His hair was in his face, his usual careful styling undone by the initial fight and whatever he’d been through since capture, and there was blood dripping down his arms, likely from fighting against his restraints.

A sharp kick to the back of his knees sent Gladio to the ground, his knees smarting as they collided with the hard floor.

“What do you want with us, Ardyn?” Noctis asked. His voice was strong, more irritated than scared, but Gladio could hear the note of fear in it. He was still overwhelmingly proud of Noctis’s defiance.

“I want you to choose,” Ardyn said with a smile that Gladio could only describe as malicious.

Gladio noticed for the first time the dagger in Ardyn’s hand, and his breath caught as he had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going, even as Noctis voiced his confusion.

 _Please, Astrals, let me be wrong,_ Gladio prayed for the first time since well before the fall of Insomnia. _Please don’t put Noctis through this._

“One of your retainers is going to die today, Noct.”

Gladio really _hated it_ when he was right.

“And you are going to choose which one,” Ardyn finished, flourishing the dagger in their direction.

Gladio was already trying to push himself back to his feet before Ardyn finished speaking. He could not allow this to happen. Any of them would gladly fall in defense of their prince, their king, friend, _brother_ , but not like this. This bastard didn’t get to take their kingdom and their families and then do _this_ to them.

Sharp pain in his side dropped him back down with a muffled gasp, and he froze at the hard press of cold metal to the nape of his neck. If the MT shot him, Gladio knew Ardyn would still make Noctis choose between Ignis or Prompto, so he stopped fighting, as much as everything in him screamed at the wrongness of surrendering.

Gladio tuned out Ardyn’s mocking words as he went down the line, taunting Noctis with more intimate details of his relationships with each of them than he should have known. He kept his attention on Noctis, watching the maelstrom of emotions play out on his face, and steeling his own resolve against what he knew had to happen next.

If one of them was going to die today, it needed to be him.

He’d made his peace with dying for Noctis a long time ago. The current circumstances were not at all how he had imagined it, but it didn’t weaken his resolve to carry through with his duty.

He was not so distracted that he missed Ardyn stepping up behind him, and he flinched away from the sharp edge of the dagger not because of the pain but rather because the chancellor’s touch disgusted him. His hands ached with the desire to tear the bastard’s heart right out of his chest.

Gladio kept his eyes fixed on Noctis, even as his king demanded and begged for Ardyn to stop, as Ardyn threatened to kill them all if Noctis didn’t choose, and as Noctis swept his eyes across all of them before finally meeting his gaze.

Gladio nodded, giving permission, hoping to shield Noctis one last time by taking the burden of this choice off him. Instead, Noctis sobbed, the sound tearing at Gladio’s heart.

“Please, Ardyn, no, just let them go. I’m the one you’re interested in, don’t make me do this.”

Gladio didn’t take his eyes off Noctis through Ardyn’s countdown and Noctis’s pleading.

_Come on, kid, you know who the correct choice is._

He didn’t want to die, but it was better that it be him than Ignis or Prompto.

Noctis sobbed his name in the midst of his apologies, and Gladio’s chest tangled up in painful relief. He gave Noctis a proud nod, then closed his eyes so Noctis couldn’t see the fear he was barely holding at bay for his king’s sake.

_I’ll see you soon, Dad, Mom. I hope you’ll be proud of me._

He hoped it’d be quick. Maybe the MT behind him would pull the trigger. He probably wouldn’t even feel that. Or Ardyn would use the dagger. That could be either fast or painfully slow, depending on where he struck -

Noctis screamed, raw and horrified. Gladio’s eyes snapped open, barely registering the horror on Noctis’s face before turning to follow his gaze. Just in time to see Prompto fall, his throat gaping.

No. No, Noctis had made his choice, had chosen _Gladio_ , had chosen _him_ like he was _supposed to_.

Above Prompto’s lifeless body, Ardyn nonchalantly flicked blood off the edge of his knife. His smile was just as sharp as that blade, just as uncaring, and Gladio knew it had never been a choice at all. Gladio lunged for him, screaming wordless fury when he was yanked back before he could reach him. Another set of metal hands joined the first to pull him from the room alongside a shocked Ignis.

The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Noctis alone with Ardyn and the lifeless body of his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s less than a week in, and I’m already behind. Sigh.
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr at [prince-noctisluciscaelum](https://prince-noctisluciscaelum.tumblr.com)!


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